October 18, 2010

We were walking up State Street yesterday, when we were very politely accosted by this young man who was trying to get people to write their answer to that question in his little spiral notebook.

Meade accepted the challenge, and that gave me the opportunity to ask if I could take the man's photograph. I said I was especially interested in the subject of men in skirts, and he agreed to be photographed and introduced me to the term Utilikilt. There was some talk about its usefulness to, for example, a carpenter.

I observed that it would be a useful defense against plumber's crack (since the back isn't attached to the front beneath the legs, so there's no downward pull when you crouch), and he made the less subtle point that it wasn't good if you had to use a ladder.

Having finished writing in the notebook, Meade asked him how other people had answered the question, and the man — his name is Aaron Heideman — explained his project, which was to travel all over the country — hitchhiking — and find out the different ways people would answer. Some people went for abstractions and some for personal accomplishments or possessions. He gave me his card, his consent to blog his pictures, and his willingness to receive traffic to his blog: americandreamorbust.com.

As we walked away, I asked Meade what he wrote. He said: "To live in freedom."

84 comments:

I dunno, if you're gonna wear a kilt, it ought to be plaid. I don't pick up hitch-hikers anyway on general principles of risk avoidance, but I certainly wouldn't pick up a man wearing a skirt! It would seem to me that if someone is trying to thumb a ride, he'd want to give off a vibe of normalcy.

I have a friend who likes to wear his comando style. He combines the kilt w/ giant combat boots and a pink shirt that says 'real men wear pink.' And, he likes to drop a little metal bar w/ balls on its ends into folks' hands. And then, he asks them if they can guess where that piercing came from. [Hint: Favre recently photographed this body part.]

When he's not doing this sort of thing he's protecting the country at the FBI.

If Meade had filled this out a year and change ago he would have had two dreams.

But, now that he's married to Althouse, his only outstanding American dream is to overcome the real life nightmare which is the unbearable oppression of his government. Keep dreaming Meade, someday you may live in freedom.

Poor Meade.

And poor the rest of you who don't live in freedom. Hopefully, you find comfort in knowing that you are not the first Americans to live w/o freedom. Like them, you too may be emancipated some day. You "have a dream."

Utilikilts are made in Seattle. The closer to Capitol Hill and Fremont neighborhoods one goes, the more frequently they are spotted.

They look pretty comfortable and actually pretty useful if one is out and about on a piece of land, hauling trees and such. I thought about getting a pair but as a former competitive cyclist I still shave my legs, and the combination of the two, well......you know.....

It's been a few days since I've visited Althouse. How nice it is to come here and find such a delightful post at the very top! It's got everything: a man in a kilt, a wisdom-filled notebook, an Althouse + Meade adventure, a toast to freedom presented as the punchline.

Should I read on? Scroll down? I'm thinking no... nah... this post was so pleasant to experience that I don't want to spoil it. There'll probably be some crazy and discouraging political shit down there in the blogdepths. No, no... I'm all good now. B-ye!

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Isn't Blogger's spam filter a wonderful thing? How did the hat Brille thing with all the links get by? The filters on my blogs tends to error on the side of caution. It's gotta be frustrating for a spammer to have all their posts eaten. That makes me laugh.

A pretty standard carpenter's uniform for framing houses in the summer sun is cut off shorts and a leather apron (essentially half of a Utilikilt). Of course, back in the 70's the old guys would still wear long pants even in the most brutal weather. Standards, you know.

What a stupid outfit. Wearing shorts during the summer while doing construction is one thing, but can you imagine cutting a piece of wood on a sawhorse with a skill saw and having a wind gust? I swear, the amount of people who have any common sense is slowly disappearing because of the lack of individuals doing any physical labor in their life. Go ahead, try using a chainsaw while wearing a long loose fitting skirt and see what happens.

And the man seems a bit eccentric, albeit in an adventure-seeking way, but he doesn't hold a candle to Jimmy McMillan, the New York gubernatorial candidate of "The Rent Is 2 Damn High Party." Now THAT is some righteous facial hair!

I think he might feel better if he gave up all claims to the state's bounty, living apart from the professor in a wilderness cabin, built of trees he felled with his own axes and crosscut saw. They can still get together of course, each paying their own way.

I love FLS’ false dichotomy…either live in WI/the US today or live in a cabin in the woods. One must have an UAW-GM bailout, ruinous fast rail and light rail schemes, Cap n’Trade and Green Jobs boondoggles or else one ahs nothing. Really, so the people of Ohio or WI were not “free” until 2008, FLS? Neither were EVER Slave States, so you don’t even get that rhetorical refuge. The people of Ohio and WI weren’t free in 1840, 1940, or 1980? Only NOW they’re free?

You want it to seem that what exists TODAY is “Freedom” and what went before was not. How is that so? Please explain, use examples, and demonstrate that today’s freedom is superior to yesterday’s freedom. Show how the folks living in Lincoln’s Ohio were not free, or how the people of WI under T. Roosevelt, were not free.

One does not need the Welfare State to be free; neither does a rejection of the Welfare State mean rejection of the State. Certainly the Founders were not Anarcho-Capitalists. They acknowledged a role for the Federal Government AND State Governments. A smaller “State” does not mean NO State, but if that’s what you want to think of your philosophic opponents, please drive on. Your ignorance will be your undoing…please consult Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions If you wish to support the political science version of “phlogiston” feel free, but a refusal to understand the nature of the paradigm shift approaching can prove intellectually fatal. If you wish to be the Left’s Robert Taft, feel free…but expect it to get pretty lonely over there.

I was going to follow up Big Mike's suggestion with the thought that the professor apply for work at the independent Franklin Pierce Law Center in New Hampshire, but they have recently chained themselves to the State, and are now the UNH School of Law.

The hosannas here in response to Meade's answer--"To live in freedom"--make my brain ache, given the Hallmark card banality of the sentiment...it's as if the clouds parted to reveal God, who spake...only to say "Have a nice day."

Don't worry, GMay...those were the smallfry...winnowed out by the market. The big boys on Wall Street are doing quite well. You wouldn't say the Mafia has been defeated if a few soldiers are gunned down but the dons are still living handsomely on Staten Island.

It's a compelling project. Reminds me a bit of David Lynch's Interview Project (haven't watched too many of these, but I've been moved & charmed by those I've seen).

I think the key to doing a project like this is to try to approach every one of your subjects-- each a distinct unique human life in medias res, a self making some fragmented sense of itself-- without contempt. But rather try to summon and maintain something more like wonder and compassion… at the recognizable, unfathomable other. (I think the best photography requires something like this too.)

I checked out the guy's website and verified my guess that he is from Ecutopia on the upper left coast. They are very popular there. I have a nephew who lives in Washington state. He wares these things. He is a normal guy, an architect, getting married, to a woman.